Thymol as Starting Material for the Development of a Biobased Material with Enhanced Antimicrobial Activity: Synthesis, Characterization, and Potential Application

Abstract

A biobased material, polythymol (PTF), was prepared using thymol, a monoterpene obtained from the essential oil of Thymus vulgaris (Lamiaceae), as a starting material with the aim of enhancing the antimicrobial properties of this natural product. Initially, different processes were performed in order to optimize the reaction conditions to obtain a macromolecule with a high purity and yield. PTF was characterized using different techniques, such as NMR, infrared, UV-Vis, and thermogravimetric analyses. The antimicrobial activity of both PTF and thymol was evaluated against different microorganisms, including S. aureus, E. coli, P. aeruginosa, and C. albicans. The obtained MIC values showed a higher potential for PTF than the monomer thymol—for example, against S. aureus (500 and 31.5 µg·mL−1 for thymol and PTF, respectively). Therefore, the obtained results show that the polymerization of thymol afforded more active biomaterial than the starting monomeric antimicrobial compound (thymol), suggesting that PTF is an important biomaterial.

Keywords

• thymol
• polymerization
• polythymol
• biofilm dispersion
• antimicrobial activity